Multishot underwater power head



s. c. VAN VOORHEES 3,545,117

MULTISHOT UNDERWATER POWER HEAD Dec. 8, 1970 Filed Nov. 8, 1968 Steven C. Van V00 r/re es IN VljN'I'OR.

United States Patent C 3,545,117 MULTISHOT UNDERWATER POWER HEAD Steven C. Van Voorhees, Box 1107, Ol'mond Beach, Fla. 32074 Filed Nov. 8, 1968, Ser. No. 774,373 Int. Cl. F41c 1/00 US. Cl. 4259 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A multibarrel head for rotatable securement to and indexing on the head end of an elongated shaft. Each of the barrels is adapted to have a shotgun shell chambered therein and each of the barrels may be selectively indexed in proper registry with a firing pin on the head end of the shaft for engagement by the firing pin upon the shaft being forwardly advanced to contact the power head with the body of a fish, whereby the associated shotgun shell will be fired when its supporting barrel is in contact with the target fish and the rapidly expanding gases of the fired shotgun shell will blow through the contacted portion of the target fish to kill the target fish or render it defenseless by shock, the shotgun shells not necessarily having a slug or buckshot therein.

The underwater gun of the instant invention has been designed primarily as a protective gun for underwater divers although it can be utilized to purposely kill fish. Further, while the underwater gun includes a plurality of barrels in which givin sized shotgun shells may be chambered, it is to be noted that the gun could be produced on a small scale and utilized in conjunction with handgun cartridges, either with or without integral bullets.

Many underwater divers presently carry shaft-like guns for protection against sharks which are utilized to prod curious sharks so as to discourge them from attacking. The power head portion of the instant invention may be readily mounted upon the head end of such a rodlike device thereby providing the diver with a gun which can be utilized in the same manner to prod the sharks but which will kill the sharks against which the power head is thrust.

A main object of this invention is to provide an improved underwater gun capable of sequentially discharging a plurality of shotgun shells before reloading of the gun becomes necessary.

A further object of this invention is to provide an underwater gun in accordance with the preceding object is to provide an underwater gun that may be constructed of various sizes so as to be compatible with not only different size shotgun shells but also handgun cartridges.

A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein is to provide an underwater gun in accordance with the preceding objects which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide a device that will be economically feasible, long lasting and relative ly trouble-free in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the underwater gun of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the underwater gull;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken ice substantially upon the plane indicated by section line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by section line 4-4 of FIG. 1.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the underwater gun of the instant invention. The gun 10 includes an elongated rod or handle 12 provided with a diametric bore 14 on its handle defining end whereby a wrist strap may be attached to the diver using the gun so that the gun will not fall from this grasp.

The power head portion of the instant invention is generally referred to by the reference numeral 16 and includes a mounting sleeve 18 telescoped over the head end of the handle 12 and secured thereto by means of suitable fasteners 20.

The end of the mounting sleeve 18 remote form the hand-grip defining end of the handle 12 has an angle iron 22 including first and second right angled flanges 24 and 26 secured thereto with the flange 24 secured over the end of the sleeve 18 in any convenient manner such as by welding 28. In addition, further Welding 28 is also utilized to secure the flange 26 to the adjacent side of the mounting sleeve 18.

An elongated mounting shank 30 has one end secured to the flange 26 in any convenient manner such as by welding and the other end of the mounting shank 30 projects forwardly from the front face of the flange 24. A cylinder assembly generally referred to by the reference numeral 32 is provided and includes a mounting sleeve 34 to which a plurality of circumferentially spaced barrels 36 are secured by welding 37. It may best be seen from FIG. 4 of the drawings that the barrels 36 are each adapted to receive a large gauge shotgun shell 38 therein with the end flanges 40 of the shells 38 abutted against corresponding gear faces 42 of the barrels 36.

A washer 44 is disposed on the mounting shank 30 adjacent flange 24 and a compression spring 46 is disposed about the mounting shank 30 outwardly of the washer 44. Further, the mounting sleeve 34 of the cylinder assembly 32 is rotatably disposed on the mounting shank 30 outwardly of the compressed spring 46 and a threaded nut 48 is threaded on the externally threaded outer end portion 50 of the mounting shank 30 and secured in position thereon by means of a cotter pin 52. Thus, the cylinder assembly 32 is removably journalled on the mounting shank 30.

A support sleeve 54 is also secured to the flange 26 by means of welding 56 and the long leg 58 of an L-shaped shaft 60 is rotatably and slidably received through the support sleeve 54. The short leg 62 of the shaft 60 defines a handle and an abutment washer 64 is secured on the free end of the long leg 58 by means of a cotter pin 66. A compression spring 68 is disposed about the long leg 58 between the support sleeve 54 and the abutment washer 64 and thereby acts upon the abutment washer 64 to shift the long leg 58 from the dotted line position illustrated in FIG. 4 to the solid line position illustrated in FIG. 4. Further, from FIG. 2 of the drawings, it may be seen that the free terminal end portion of the long leg 58 disposed outwardly of the abutment washer 64 is receivable between adjacent barrels 36 so as to properly index selected barrels 36 in registry with the firing pin 70 secured through and projecting forwardly of the front face of the flange 24. Of course, proper indexing of the barrels 36 with the firing pin 70 will register the primer of the associated shell 38 with the firing pin 70.

From FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings it may be seen that the compression spring '46 retains the cylinder assembly 32 in a forwardly displaced position relative to the firing a pin and therefore that the firing pin 70 is spaced rearwardly of the associated shotgun shell. However, should the handle 12 be sharply advanced forwardly so as to abruptly contact the barrels 36 with a shark, the forward movement of the cylinder assembly 32 will be stopped upon contact of the cylinder assembly 32 with the shark and the handle 12 will continue to move forwardly so as to sharply strike the firing pin 70 against the primer of the associated shotgun shell 38 resulting in the latter being discharged.

As soon as one of the shotgun shells 38 has been discharged, the short leg 62 of the shaft 60 may be pulled rearwardly to the phantom line position thereof illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawings so as to withdraw the free terminal end of the long leg 58 from between adjacent barrels 3'6. Thereafter, the next barrel 36 may be swung into registery with the firing pin 70 and the short leg 62 may be released so as to allow the spring 68 to shift the shaft 60 forwardly to the solid line position thereof illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing so as to maintain the next barrel 36 in registry with the firing pin 70. It may be noted that the abutment washer 64 overlies the end flanges 40 of the adjacent shells 38 so as to maintain the latter fully seated against the rear ends of the barrels 36 and that the flange 24 of the angle iron 22 prevents the third shotgun shell 38 from being rearwardly withdrawn from its barrel 36. However, with attention now invited more specifically to FIG. 2, it may be seen that when each of the barrels 36 is disposed anywhere between the four and six oclock positions relative to the mounting shank 30 the rear ends of the barrels 36 are uncovered and the shotgun shells 38 therein may be rearwardly withdrawn from the barrels 36 in order to reload the cylinder assembly 32.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A multishot underwater gun including an elongated handle having a rear base end and a forward head end, a multiple barrel head supported on said head end for rotation about an axis generally paralleling said handle and including a plurality of open ended barrels spaced equally radially outWardy from and generally paralleling the axis of rotation of said head, said head also being mounted on said head end for limited shifting along said axis and yieldingly urged to its forwardmost limit position, a forwardly projecting firing pin carried by said head end and with each of said barrels is registerable with the latter spaced forwardly of said pin when said head is in its forwardmost limit position, each of said barrels being adapted to seatingly forwardly receive an explosive shell therein including a rearwardly facing primer portion, and said firing pin, when said head is in its rearmost position,

being adapted to engage with the primer portion of the shell seated in the barrel registered with said pin.

2. The combination of claim 1 including means supported from said head end and operatively associated with said head for releasably retaining said head in selected rotated positions with said pin registered with said primer portions.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said head end of said handle includes a forwardly projecting shank offset from said firing pin, said head including a sleeve journalled and longitudinally slidably disposed on said shank, and said barrels being circumferentially spaced about and supported from said sleeve.

4. The combination of claim 3 wherein said sleeve and adjacent barrels define recesses extending longitudinally of said head equal in number to the number of said barrels, an indexing shaft supported from said head end of said handle, generally paralleling said axis and shiftable longitudinally relative to said handle between forward and rear limit positions, the forward end of said shaft being snugly received in the rear end of one of said recesses when said shaft is in its forward limit position and one of said barrels is registered with said firing pin.

5. The combination of claim 4 including means yieldingly urging said shaft toward its forward limit position.

6. The combination of claim 5 wherein said shaft includes means defining a radially outwardly projecting shoulder spaced rearward from its forward end and a pair of spaced portions of said shoulders are positioned to overlie the rear faces of a pair of shells seated in the barrels between which said shaft is seated when in its forwardmost position.

7. The combination of claim 1 wherein said firing pin is carried by the forward end of a mounting sleeve telescoped over and removably secured to the head end of said handle.

8. The combination of claim 7 wherein said head end of said handle includes a forwardly projecting shank offset from said firing pin, said head including a sleeve journalled and longitudinally slidably disposed on said shank, said barrels being circumferentially spaced about and supported from said sleeve, and said shank being supported from said mounting sleeve.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,145,494 8/1964 Willcox et al 42l 3,210,877 10/1965 Liberatore .W 421 3,300,888 1/1967 Belcher et al. 42-1 3,453,763 7/1969 iBarr et al. 42-1 SAMUEL FEINBERG, Primary Examiner C. T. JORDAN, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. 41l 

